Men's 1st Team Vs Droitwich Spa 2

DROITWICH  2nds    0       YARDLEY   1sts    2

 Goalscorers:   Noor Zaman   and   Alex Makepeace

Yardley travelled South this week to Droitwich 2nds, a journey greeted by snow and sleet and then played in bitterly cold weather throughout.               

 Pushback was delayed by 10 minutes, awaiting the arrival of the second home umpire. Yardley got off to a good start, pressuring the Droitwich defence. But several errors by the away side quickly noticed by the umpires and Droitwich broke on the attack. The defence of Mat, Ed and Noah, resolute to stop any threat. Yardley had few good chances, Noor finding Jeevan on two occasions, one narrowly wide of the top corner and another quickly closed down by the keeper, though he took a knock that would see him rotate for the rest of the game. A panicked start was soon stopped with a calmer approach, less frantic and more possessive, Alex finding himself in space but his shot saved by the keeper. Down the other end, Neal was forced into a fantastic save with his stick as he dived to his right keeping Yardley in the game. The game opening up, Zach and Ricky linked well with Kyle, pushing him down the right wing with chances to cross, but kept out by Droitwich.

 Towards the end of the half, Yardley found themselves being played on by the advantage on several occasions, Jeevan pouncing on a loose ball by the halfway, playing in Noor who stopped the ball and sweetly struck the ball over the keeper and into the corner. Half time and a slender lead. The second half offered much end to end action, Ricky and Alex marshalling the midfield with runs through, Tahir finding space, holding up play and getting the team into attacking positions, Jahed troubling the defence into making mistakes. Down the other end, Mat continued his fine work in central defence, sniffing out attacks with Neal called into make a few more important saves to keep the team into the game. A brilliant run by Zach supporting Kyle save his cross flash past the back post, Jeevan unable to get onto the end of it. Alex intercepting the ball well in the middle and making a run supported by Ricky, Kyle and Tahir, with Alex striking the ball at the keeper who fumbled the ball off his pads into his own net. At the  final whistle, Yardley were delighted to have extended  their unbeaten away  record.

  Next week they put their away run to the test away at Bournville 3rds.